The Helihopper

Clack! Clack! Clack! Another grasshopper leaped from the path and fluttered away from the family as they trekked up the dry, dusty hill. The desert plants on either side of the well trod pathway seemed even drier than normal. This year’s drought had been devastating to all but the hardiest of plants. Clack! Clack! Clack! “C’mon, Sally! Let’s go catch one.” Billy was off like a shot chasing the clacking grasshopper. Other grasshoppers leaped up around his pounding feet. His younger sister followed behind, blond braids bouncing in rhythm with her little running legs. “Wait up, Billy!” She called to her older brother. “Billy, wait for your sister to catch up.” Their father’s baritone voice cut through the clacking and the running and the rushing of air by the ears that came from the running. “But, Dad…” “No ‘buts’, Billy. Just do it.” “This isn’t a Nike commercial, dad.” “Yeah, there aren’t any TVs around,” Sally chimed in. “Hey, no fair ganging up on your old man now. Besides if it were a Nike commercial, Michael Jordan would be here.” Clack! Clack! Clack! “C’mon, Sally, we’ll get one for each of us.” “Stay on the trail.” The children ran up the trail faster than their father wanted to keep up. He was already breathing faster than normal, and both Billy and Sally tended to make good decisions. He did quicken his pace a bit but hung back just enough to give the children the illusion of being by themselves in the wilderness. Clack! Clack! Clack! The grasshopper’s flight was loud along the desert trail. “Dad! Dad!” The excitement in Billy’s voice told his father of the child’s triumph. “Look!” Billy came running around the corner; his little sister was following him. “I caught one! I caught one!” Billy unclasped his hands just wide enough for a leg to stick out. “I caught one, too!” Sally’s little voice wafted through the air. She opened her hands just a little too wide, and the grasshopper clacked out. “Come back! Dad, it’s going away.” “That’s alright, honey. Just let it go.” “But Billy has one.” “Billy, you should let yours go, too.” “But, Dad, I want to take him home and put him in a jar. I’ll feed him leaves and everything.” “Well, Son, I don’t think he will eat everything, but it is better to leave nature in nature.” “But, Dad…” Billy drew out the ‘a’ in ‘dad’ as he started his whine. “You told me that the kids in Africa would catch grasshoppers and tie strings to them and walk them like a dog.” “That’s true.” “So how come I can’t?” “In Africa, son, they don’t have helihoppers.” Billy crinkled his nose at hearing the word ‘helihopper.’ “What’s a heli… hopper?” “Well,” the family continued up the hill. “It’s kind of like a giant grasshopper. You hear the sound that grasshoppers make as they fly from the path?” Clack! Clack! Clack! “Now imagine that same sound coming from something the size of a helicopter.” Billy’s eyes got wide. “That would be loud.” “It is… Like a helicopter.” “But what’s a helihopper do?” “I’m not sure. I think they protect the grasshoppers. That’s why we haven’t seen any birds around.” They were getting close to the top of the hill now. “I heard a story about an entomologist who was…” “Daddy,” Sally interrupted, “What’s an Eddymololol?” “Entomologist – a person who studies bugs; so there was an entomologist camped just beyond the ridge there.” The father pointed over a hill in the distance. “They found his camp with a bunch of broken jars labeled ‘grasshopper.’ They never did find him.” They wind kicked up a bit. Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack! Thump! Clack! The wind rushed down the path toward them carrying dust with it. Clack! Thump! Thump! “Oh, Dad, You just made that up. I think I will call him ‘Jimmy.’” Billy squinted his eyes against the dust. Thump! Thump! Thump! As they crested the hill a grasshopper the size of a helicopter rose above them. Billy and Sally stood frozen to the ground. Dad shielded his eyes from the dust that was being kicked up by the massive wings. “Let it go, Billy! Let it go!” Billy’s hands went slack enough for the grasshopper to crawl out and clack away. The helihopper flew over the far ridge. “Do you think your mother will believe it?”